The power of the cell phone and the computer
by mitsuishi
Summary: Encouraged by his previous success, Ichigo contacts Rukia, but this time he calls. It doesn't exactly work the way they wanted, but it is still enough to keep in touch, even though they are literally worlds apart. Sequel to "The power of the cell phone".


**~ Hey. Since you guys asked, I made a sequel to "The power of the cell phone", I was really happy to hear that you liked that short oneshot, and I hope you'll enjoy this one as well. This time it's Rukia's POV; I'd love to hear what you think and which one you liked better. Greetings,**

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**The power of the cell phone… and the computer.**

Rukia collapsed heavily on her bed.

It was such a long and tiring day.

First, captain Ukitake ordered her to find captain Kyoraku's lieutenant and pass some papers, then she was assigned to assist Kiyone in her training, which completely sucked her energy, since Kiyone finally won the contest and became the lieutenant of 13th squad, what meant she has improved a lot and it wasn't a routine training as it used to be with her. She improved so much that Rukia felt ashamed she was stuck only with her three dances. She really needed to work harder in order to show her brother, he didn't have to protect her anymore and that she was ready to take a seat. She really wanted to get one; to become somebody respected more than a simple squad member.

Well, she wasn't exactly a simple squad member anymore; the issues with Ichigo made her more famous than she ever wished for, but not for appropriate reasons.

She never wanted to be the one saved by powerful, orange haired ryoka, who invaded Soul Society for her and defeated Aizen.

People in Soul Society were talking about Ichigo all the time, even though it passed so much time since they last saw him; he had become some kind of legend- kids wanted to grow up and be as strong as Ichigo Kurosaki, not Zaraki Kenpachi as it was before.

That bastard was well known everywhere, but only a few, highest ranked people knew that he wasn't a Soul Reaper anymore.

That reminded her, that he had promised to call her.

Rukia smiled softly, thinking how simple text message like "Yo, what's up?" made her heart beat faster from excitement. She really couldn't believe it was happening for real, that her old cell phone could work, connecting Soul Society and the Real World; it was just unbelievable.

Too bad they didn't know about it earlier.

She had lived every day exactly the same as she had before she met Ichigo and changed his and her fate. The only difference from before was that she managed to keep her friendship with Renji. Even though he was a lieutenant, they met from time to time and exchanged a few words. Slowly, they were rebuilding the bond they shared so many years ago.

Rukia flipped the phone open.

If the clock worked properly, it was 8:35 pm in the World of Living. That could be considered evening, right?

She kept staring at the small screen, gripping the appliance tightly.

She wanted it to ring; she wanted it to work this way, so that they could talk normally, even for a minute.

No matter how hard she tried to deny it, she missed that idiot. Not only him to be precise, she missed the time she spent in the Karakura town with everyone, as a high school student Rukia Kuchiki. She acknowledged that attachment a long time ago- when she tried to ran away from Ichigo's house to save him from trouble. Sometimes this longing occupied her mind too persistently, yet she had never regretted anything. The time she had spent there was the best that happened to her, nobody never had shown her that she is that much important as Inoue, Ishida, Sado and Ichigo. She really wished…

The phone rang in her hand and she jumped on the sofa. She noticed huge letters "ICHIGO" in the middle on the screen and breathed in.

_Please, let it work._

She pushed the button with the green handset and pressed the phone to the ear.

"Rukia? Can you hear me?" Oh my. This was not happening for real.

Rukia straightened in her seat and the hand holding a phone shook a little, while her mouth formed a smile without her realizing it.

"Hey, idiot." She whispered, trying to hide the joy that she felt in her entire body. Damn it, did she really miss him _that _much?

"Rukia?" He repeated once again doubtfully.

"Don't be that surprised again, you already know that this is my phone." She replied and thought that he must have matured, because his voice was a bit deeper than she remembered. Or she thought like this because she hasn't talked to him for so long?

"Rukia, are you there? I can't hear you." He said a bit louder than he should and that was the moment when Rukia realized that something was wrong.

"Ichigo? I am talking to you, can't you hear?" She pressed the phone harder to her ear, hoping this will work.

"Rukia, I can't hear you, speak to me." He repeated and Rukia knew that they won't get a chance to talk.

"I'm so sorry." Rukia disconnected and observed the phone with hatred.

Stupid thing.

She opened the text message.

"I heard you but you couldn't hear me :/ I'm sorry."

"So the call actually worked… I think I couldn't hear you because I lost my powers- I cannot see or hear you, the phone doesn't make it different :/"

Well. That was a possible explanation. If he couldn't hear her when she stood right in front of him, why would he hear her through the phone?

She pushed the reply button.

"I guess we're stuck with text messages. But it was nice to hear you anyway:) You sound like a really old and arrogant ass, you know that? Did you make that on purpose?"

To her surprise she saw on the screen a handset with a word "ICHIGO" in the middle once again. Why the hell was he calling?

"Hello?" She asked hesitantly.

"You know what? Maybe that's better only you can hear me. Now I can talk to you anything I want and you still won't tell a thing." He chuckled darkly and Rukia felt how her blood pressure was raising slowly. That bastard….

"Firstly. I am not making any noises at night, I have no idea what were you talking about this afternoon. I suppose you wrote that only to piss me off, and hell, you suceeded. But not this time, shorty. Yeah, _shorty_," he repeated and a small vein on Rukia's temple started to pulsate angrily, what the hell was he thinking?

"You call me that once again-" She started, but he never stopped his speech, because, it was as simple as that, he couldn't hear a thing she said and that only made her furious.

"God, it feels so good to talk to you like that and not hear those insults coming out of your _midgety _mouth." He punctuated happily. "Secondly. I do not sound old, and what is more I do not sound like an arrogant ass. Do you want more, or is it enough?" He mocked and she pushed the "disconnect" button angrily, because she couldn't text any response while he was talking.

"BRAINLESS IDIOT." She wrote only two words the fastest she could and sent him immediately, while the longer tirade was already prepared in the next message.

He called her once again but, she didn't pick it up this time. Oh no, she wasn't stupid. He could win this battle, but the war was hers.

"Pissed you off, huh? ; Now you know how it feels like, _shorty_ :P"

Rukia felt like throwing that stupid phone against the wall. What the hell was he thinking? Something as short as the text message won't work for her anymore, there must be something…

"What is that thing you use in your computer to communicate with your friends?" She wrote quickly in another message, the one with insults and curses saved in drafts.

"You mean Internet?"

"I know it's called Internet, fool, I have learned enough during my stay in the Real World. But I don't remember that particular thing when you write long messages and send to someone…"

"MSN?"

"Hell yeah! Bring it on! I want to talk to you like that. You're gonna speak to the phone and I'm gonna write. You will not torture me anymore, I am much smarter than that."

"Umm… I don't want to ruin your sense of genius, but do you have any computer at your fingertips?"

The bastard had the point.

Well, there was a way to get to the computer. She stood up and left her barrack in a hurry, texting wildly all the time.

"I don't but Captain Ukitake has one in his office."

"Will he let you use it?"

"I'm not gonna ask him."

"Wait, Rukia, what are you doing?"

"Breaking into Captain Ukitake's office. Excuse me for a second." She sent the message and hid the phone in the folds of her kimono, even though the signal of receiving a new message appeared faster than she could say "break into." She ignored it and focused.

Now it was time to use the shunpo she's been working on for the last couple of months with her brother.

Rukia moved through the 13th squad's barracks, ignoring new messages that came with a frequency of hummingbird's wing flapping.

Did that idiot realize that it was distracting her and she could land in Kenpachi's bedroom instead of Ukitake's office?

She entered to the office without any problems, since Captain Ukitake never closed it. He said he had no secrets and everybody was welcomed.

Even though he probably said it thinking about the time he was inside, Rukia decided to stick with the thought that she was allowed to use his office just this once. After all it was a really serious matter- to keep in touch with a war hero, that was in the best interest of Soul Society…

_Oh, let's cut this crap, I know I can't be here, but I know also that I_ have to _be here._

Rukia pushed the power button and watched as the machine came to life; she almost forgot how many colorful lights it created; it was so familiar, yet so strange.

A couple of new signals rang in her pocket and she immediately pulled out the phone, setting up the silent mode. She would rather not be caught here.

She started to open up the countless messages that kept coming from Ichigo and she smiled while reading a few. He could be a fool, but a fool who worries about his friends.

"What do you mean by BREAK INTO?"

"Wait Rukia, you are not serious... are you…?"

"DON'T DO IT!"

"You are friggin' nuts!"

"NO! sadkljdsflkjadsf !"

"STOP RIGHT NOW!"

"Texting is enough, come to your senses!"

"They are gonna capture and execute you again and I will not be there this time to save you."

She laughed at the last one and ignored about eight similar messages.

"Relax, I'm here. Now search somebody called 'Captain Ukitake'. There shouldn't be many people with that nick XD"

"Get out of there, you're seriously gonna have trouble."

"I won't, I told you I achieved Bankai, so I might be a captain soon, they would not tell anything to a captain, don't you think? :P"

"This is not funny Rukia. Go back to wherever you were before."

"Come on, you're the last person to reprimand me about following the rules! If I want to talk to you, then I will, so move your ass and find me on that damn computer!"

"But if they catch you tell them I forced you." Rukia sighed with resignation. Like that would work.

"Fine. Did you find Ukitake?"

"Yeah."

"So write to me so that this little window would pop on my screen!"

She noticed with content that he did as she said.

"It's me."

"Hey. Now you can call me. You'll talk and I'll write. It'll be faster like that." _And I really enjoy hearing your voice._ But that was not for him to know.

The phone vibrated gently in her hand and she answered at once, trapping the phone between her ear and shoulder.

"Gotcha." She typed on the keyboard.

"I really don't like it. You're gonna have a lot of trouble if someone finds you…"

"Stop talking like my brother and tell me something I want to hear."

"Like what?" She could tell by the sound of his voice that he still didn't approve the whole idea.

"Like what are you doing all days since there are no hollows to hunt, what interesting has Inoue cooked recently, is Ishida still sewing… just tell me everything."

"Holy shit. That's gonna take some time, you've been gone for two years!" She laughed at just how like Ichigo he sounded. He couldn't change that much… could he?

"I have a whole night, how about you?"

"Me too."

"Then go on."

"Well, first of all, some new people appeared in Karakura…" He started and she listened carefully to every word, like it would be the last one she hears. She had no idea when will the next opportunity like that occur, or how long will their phones work this way. This was definitely not normal and she had a feeling that Urahara had something to do with this.

Either way, she was glad, even if it meant they get to contact only for today.

They talked and talked and Rukia slowly realized that the sun started to raise outside. She couldn't believe they have spent so many hours, it was like ten minutes and she felt not tired or bored at all, she wanted to carry on for another couple of hours.

"Look, the sun is coming up here, I think it's time to go." She wrote after he had finished another story with his crazy father as a protagonist. It was really hard to write that line, because they didn't know if it will work out next time.

"I know… Actually I should be at school right now." He admitted a bit embarrassed and she could almost see how he scratches the back of his head as he always did.

"Seriously? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just lost the track of the time, I only caught the glimpse of the clock a minute before." She heard his loud yawn into the phone.

"Damn, we really have to go. You're gonna get caught and I'm gonna have trouble…" There was a silence, yet he still didn't disconnect. She understood him. It was hard to say goodbye.

"I guess so."

"I'll write to you later, ok?"

"I'll be waiting."

"So…"

"Yeah."

"I'm disconnecting, ok?"

"Yep."

"…until the next time."

"Yeah."

"Bye."

"Just disconnect already, idiot."

"Fine, shorty."

"You are _so _getting your ass kicked after you get your powers back, you know that?" He laughed sadly in response.

"See ya." This time it was for real, she felt it.

"Ichigo?"

"What?" He managed to ask a second before finishing the phone call.

"Just… take care… and… you can call me in the evenings… even if it's just to say good night… just call me, ok?"

"I'll call every day." He answered softly and she smiled involuntarily. If only she had a guarantee, they will see each other…

"Thanks."

They will.

She really believed that.

She turned off the computer and left quietly, thinking that she had to work a lot harder, to show him how much she improved after they meet. So that she could be his partner in a battle, not a burden.

_Just wait and see Ichigo_, she gripped Sode no Shirayuki and headed towards the training grounds instead of her barrack.

_We will see each other one day._

_We definitely will._

THE END


End file.
